UK passengers arriving before midnight tomorrow will need to undergo an RT-PCR test at airports.
New Delhi:
Flights to and from the United Kingdom have been banned until December 31 due to a new strain of the rapidly spreading coronavirus in that country, the government said today, as several countries announced similar measures.
“Considering the prevailing situation in the UK, the Indian government has decided that all UK-origin flights to India will be suspended until December 31,” said the aviation regulator Directorate General of Aviation. Civil. “Consequently, flights from India to the UK will be temporarily suspended during that period.”
The ban will take effect on Wednesday and all passengers arriving from the UK before then will be screened upon arrival at airports.
A joint monitoring group on COVID-19 had met this morning to discuss the mutant coronavirus that has spread rapidly in the UK, sending cases fired up in a matter of days.
Canada, Saudi Arabia and several European countries have suspended flights from the UK for the new strain, which is believed to be 70% more infectious.
Much is unknown about the strain, but experts say current vaccines should still be effective against it.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the government was fully alert about the new strain and stressed that “there is no need to panic.”
Since yesterday calls had been made to ban flights from the UK. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted this morning: “A new corona virus mutation has emerged in the UK, which is a super-spreader. I urge the central government to ban all flights from the UK immediately.
The UK is one of 23 countries with which India shares an “air bubble”. India, which has the second highest number of cases after the US, currently does not require institutional quarantine for international travelers if they have a negative COVID-19 test result 72 hours before entering the country.
The mutant virus was first detected in south-east England in September. It is fast becoming the dominant strain in London and other parts of the UK, leading to an increase in the number of infections and stricter levels of restrictions for some 18 million Britons.
On Sunday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “the new variant is out of control.”
Italy has reported a patient who had recently returned from the UK, infected with the mutant virus.
The new strain has health experts concerned at a time when several nations, including the United Kingdom and the United States, have approved Covid vaccines to fuel their fight amid the pandemic.
European Union experts believe that existing coronavirus vaccines are effective against the new strain.
India’s coronavirus cases passed the 1 crore mark on Saturday; 24,337 new cases in the past 24 hours brought the count to 1,00,55,560, government data showed this morning. More than 1.45 lakh people have died so far.
Worldwide, more than 7.68 million million cases have been reported so far; 16.9 lakh people have died.
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